Valeriu Khorshid

Rule One: Do not readily accept food or drink from the Fair Folk. All gifts are not to be accepted or given lightly.
Rule Two: Names have power. True Names have even more.
Rule Three: The Fair Folk take their debts very seriously. They always fulfill their promises, and they expect the same of you. Phrases like ‘thank you’ and ‘I’m sorry’ can imply debt.
Rule Four: Do not mention your newborn babes or children to the fae.
Rule Five: Fae like the finer, and sweeter things in life. Offer these things.
Rule Six: Beware the song and dance of the Fae, for their enchanting sound may trap you.
Rule Seven: Within the worlds of Faerie, what you see, touch, smell, and taste may not be real. Your senses will deceive you. What you know to be true is not true.

All fae beings have some level of understanding, skill, or sensitivity to magic. Different fae express their magical abilities in different ways. Some are born with a natural inclination towards a practice or element, while others will develop it later in their life. Some are more practical and only use magic for great need, some use it all the time. Some use it for the benefit of others, while others use it to trick and kill. Some magic is subtle, some is obvious and in your face. Ultimately, magical skill and arcane knowledge are developed over time in most cases in order to produce powerful mages. However, some others gain their abilities through deals with spirits and demons and fallen dieties, much like Valeriu.

In DnD terms, Vali himself could be considered a mix between a warlock (one who gains magical ability from a patron demon or spirit), a sorcerer (one with natural born magic ability which is developed through experience) and a wizard (one who develops their magical ability through knowledge and practice). Most fae with great power are a mix of these types of magi, to some degree or another.

Valeriu has a wide range of magical abilities and knowledge at his disposal that he has learned and honed over the decades of duty as Archmage. The sensitivity to magic gifted to him by Aeshma allows him an insight into the arcane world that would take most mages centuries of study to achieve.

He is most well known for his proclivity towards fire, which only grew more powerful as he was possessed by Aeshma. He could be considered a master pyromancer, though he is very careful to utilize these abilities due to their destructive power. Pyromancy feeds upon rage, passion, obsession, the intensity of emotion and feeling, and so Valeriu is always in a precarious balancing act with his fiery abilities. He can control light and temperature with ease. He is capable of conjuring fire out of thin air, and can easily utilize his fire magic with the earth, or manipulate the magma underneath the earth itself. Calling down hail of fire, triggering massive forest fires, or creating a small localized meteor strike are all destructive feats he finds all too easy to achieve if he really wanted to. In the same vein, he can calm and cool nearly any flame or heat source. This makes him an actually very effective fire stopper, ironically.

Another ability Vali possesses is the ability to enter and manipulate the dreams of others. This magical ability is known as ‘dreamstriding’. Vali mostly utilizes his ability as a way to spy upon others, manipulating the dreamer’s state of mind, and to sate his curiosity about the inner workings of other people’s minds.

He can hear and even sometimes see what is unheard and unseen. He can hear the voices of the elemental spirits -- of the dryads, the undine, the salamandrae… They all speak to him, and both help and hinder him along his journey.

Vali, like most fae, has learned some limited shapeshifting and illusionary abilities in order to exist among many different worlds. Vali’s glamour is much more potent than his actual polymorphic abilities -- being able to take on the illusionary form of almost any person or being he has seen, or to change the appearance of an object or animal. He can even conjure up entire dream/nightmarescapes within reality, often taken straight from his own dreamscape or from the dreams of other people.

He often uses this glamour to appear as a human, so he may exist among them for a time. However, this illusion is imperfect, and can be picked apart with a keen eye. There is always something obviously wrong with him, and anything else he may glamour.

As for actual shapeshifting abilities, Vali can shift himself into a variety of bugs, as well as a snake, a jungle fowl, and a billowing miasma of black mist. He can also adjust his size, making himself bigger or smaller as he pleases.

A lot of fae magic is affected by the perception and state of mind of the one who witnesses it. Strong belief in magic/the fae/etc etc can make illusions, charms, curses, and glamours, and even the presence of the fae itself, even stronger and more present. While someone who is highly skeptical and disbelieving of the supernatural may not even notice the influence of a fae for a long while, until it is right in their face.

Other than magic, Valeriu knows a bit about hand to hand combat and swordsmanship, and he is keen about being in the frenzy of battle. However, he is not a battle hardened warrior in most iterations I play of him. He has lived a good portion of his life within the safety of the caverns and halls of Amorium, and this has softened him a bit. He lived the life of a scholar and a nobleman before he lived the life of a wanderer. His fighting style is brave, and does have some innate skill and strength, but it is at times sloppy, leaving him open for attacks. He lets his emotions sometimes get the better of him in battle, which can both enhance his magical ability and hamper his physical abilities. His illusionary and pyromancy abilities combined with his martial abilities can be a very effective and deadly combination, but he can often struggle against targets that are unaffected by illusions (such as undead) or fire (such as other fire or earth elemental beings).

Overall, while Valeriu has the potential to be very powerful. However, while he can be powerscaled as needed, I tend to play him a little less powerful than you'd might expect to keep things interesting and high stakes. Powerful enough that he can hold his own and maintain his position in a society that sees might as right, but no so powerful that he is infallible, overpowered, perfectly skilled, or unable to be defeated. He has many weaknesses and things to exploit in combat orientated RP. I find it no fun when my character could essentially win every single battle and never gets hurt. The only thing I'm a little reluctant upon is character death.

Fae can appear many ways, influenced by both nature, preference and perception, but this is the way Valeriu typically chooses to appear:
Swart and sturdy, Vali is considered quintessentially beautiful among the Dokkalfar. Like many fae, his face and body can easily flow between what humans consider the aesthetic of the masculine and feminine. He is androgynous not in the sense that he lacks gendered traits, but in the sense that he combines many aspects of them. Many aspects of his appearance might change subtly, in accordance with what one expects, or indeed, wants to see.

He stands around 5’6” (not including the antennae) and weighs around 14 stone (200lbs). He could technically make himself appear taller, or skinnier, but he does not want to, as it does not suit him. He is an endomorph. With dark & ruddy skin and hair, he is virile and healthy, which is what gained him his name of ‘Valeriu’ or ‘Vali’, meaning ‘healthy’ or ‘vigorous’.

Generally, Alfar have eyes that seem almost too big for their heads. A side effect of living in dark jungles and caves for so long. And Valeriu is no different, with large, sharp eyes. The sclera are pitch black, the iris a striking amber red color.

His hair is a dark chestnut color, long, wavey, and thick, reaching well past his shoulders. His ears are long and sharp, pierced like many other parts of his body. His nose is Roman-shaped, and his cheekbones are high and full. Garnet-colored scales of various sizes are scattered across his face and body, an indication of a hearty sexually mature Dokkalfar.

Vali obviously takes great pride in his appearance, but he also enjoys occasionally employing cosmetics. It’s not uncommon to see him wearing a slightly outline of dark kohl around his eyes (Dokkalfar like doing this as it makes their eyes look even bigger and sharper), blush created from crushed red flowers, or lipsticks made with pearlescence powder. The skin is sometimes dyed and decorated in a similar manner to henna or jagua, in colors of dark blue and earthy reds. These are often preferred over more permanent tattoos are the biology of the Dokkalfar means that even ink tattoos are temporary.

Golden or silver piercings are sprinkled around his body, including a pierced: septum, tongue, ear lobes, helix, tragus and nipples.
Bright red antennae sprout from the crown of his head, moving every which way. He is often seen wearing deep colors, with shades of red, gold, and purple being among his favorites. Vali wears a variety of charms, talismans, and fetiches all over his body, with the most notable being a naẓar (evil eye) worn on a cord around his neck.

Like all of his species, he possesses large insectoid wings. Vali’s are reminiscent of an Atlas or Cecropia moth. These wings are often hidden underneath a modified wing called an elytron, also known as ‘shards’.

His nails are naturally black and sharp like talons. His blood is like the color of pomegranates.